Johnson County commissioners direct staff to refine 2026 property tax relief options, ask for Dec. 4 agenda review

Johnson County officials on Monday reviewed the second year of a pilot property tax relief program and asked staff to return with refined options and funding scenarios for an agenda review on Dec. 4.

County staff presented results from the 2025 pilot and a new data dashboard created from the five-year American Community Survey PUMS. Tom Franzen of Treasury Taxation and Vehicles said the county paid about $184,000 in rebates in June 2025 and that an additional $93,318.43 from the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund raised the program fund; he reported the program's remaining balance at about $365,590.36.

Greg Baldwin, also of Treasury Taxation and Vehicles, described the dashboard as a tool that can filter applicants by income, property value and age and said it informed staff's recommendations for a 2026 pilot. Baldwin recommended asking the state to update its programs while, at the county level, increasing the average appraised-value limit from $384,600 to $500,000. Staff estimated that change alone would raise payouts modestly from the 2025 total to roughly $195,000 based on current applicant behavior.

Staff also presented three alternatives and cost estimates based on dashboard modeling: raising income eligibility from HUD's "very low" limits to "low" (staff estimated payouts would rise to about $350,000), removing the current 65-and-over age requirement (estimated payouts roughly $332,000), or discontinuing the pilot and repurposing the funds. Baldwin cautioned the figures are minimums based on current usage and could grow with expanded outreach or coordinated city-county marketing.

Commissioners pressed staff for details on who was excluded from the 2025 pilot. Franzen said most ineligible applicants (79) failed the income threshold; five exceeded the appraised-value cap; six failed age, residency or ownership tests; and five failed for other reasons. Commissioners asked how combinations of changes would affect costs; staff said combining a move to "low" income limits with a $500,000 cap could push payouts to about $376,000, and adding removal of the age restriction could push the estimate to about $770,000. Baldwin said the dashboard estimated 1,497 eligible households under the low-income, $500,000/no-age scenario.

Brent Christiansen, director of Financial Management Administration, clarified that the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund is a subsection of the American Rescue Plan Act and is eligible for government services; the additional money used in 2025 is allowable for Johnson County under those rules.

Several commissioners advocated prioritizing the most vulnerable residents. One commissioner proposed dropping the age requirement while keeping "very low" income limits and raising the value cap to $500,000; staff estimated that configuration would cost roughly $369,000 and could be feasible within the current fund plus modest additional resources. Commissioners also discussed options to pay a percentage of county property tax owed as another design approach.

On implementation and oversubscription, staff said any model that expected payouts above available dollars would require policy decisions before rebates are issued: options include first-come/first-served awards, prorated payments, or returning to the board to request additional allocations.

The board did not take a formal vote on a pilot design. Instead, the chair summarized direction that staff should present the option removing the age requirement and raising the appraised-value limit to $500,000 at an agenda review on Dec. 4, along with modeling that shows the impacts of drawing from other county funds such as parks and recreation. Staff were also asked to pursue collaborative outreach possibilities with cities that run similar programs and to present funding-source options for sustaining the pilot if the board wishes to continue it beyond one-time dollars.

The committee adjourned and scheduled the item for further review at the Dec. 4 agenda review meeting.